Polytechnic scores exceptional results in survey

Media release

For immediate release, Friday 1 February 2013

Polytechnic scores exceptional results in Australasian student survey

Otago Polytechnic has once again excelled in a comprehensive comparative survey of Australasian tertiary institutions in which students assess their tertiary providers. Otago Polytechnic received top marks in areas such as higher order thinking, student and staff interaction, work-integrated learning and overall satisfaction.

The Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) is managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), and polled 91,757 first-year and 129,398 later-year students from 31 Australasian tertiary education providers in 2012. This is the third year Otago Polytechnic has participated in the study.

The AUSSE compares Otago Polytechnic’s scores with those of three Australasian benchmark groups. Group one is Otago Polytechnic, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand and UNITEC New Zealand. The second group is all participating New Zealand universities, institutes of technology and polytechnics; and the third is made up of all 31 Australasian institutions involved in the survey.

Otago Polytechnic led all Australasian benchmark groups in the categories of

Ø active learning

Ø student and staff interactions

Ø enriching educational experiences

Ø supportive learning environment

Ø work-integrated learning

Ø overall satisfaction

Ø overall average grade

Ø higher order thinking

Ø general learning outcomes

Ø general development outcomes.

The survey also benchmarked against a cohort of 584 institutions in Canada and the United States that took part in the 2012 North American National Survey of Student Engagement. Otago Polytechnic exceeded that benchmark group in the areas of

Ø active learning

Ø supportive learning environment

Ø work-integrated learning

Ø overall satisfaction

Ø average overall grade

Ø higher order thinking

Ø general learning outcomes

Ø general development outcomes

Ø career readiness.

Otago Polytechnic Chief Executive, Phil Ker, is encouraged by the consistently high results the institute scores in the annual AUSSE.

“The findings indicate that our students are feeling challenged, supported and enriched as they undertake their programmes,” he says. “It is pleasing to note our consistently high results for work-integrated learning and active learning, given that we focus on providing both theoretical and applied learning to prepare our graduates for the workplace.”

He sees the results as an endorsement of the hard work and expertise of both the Polytechnic’s academic and general staff. “The AUSSE outcomes are an acknowledgement that our staff members cultivate constructive and supportive relationships with our students in the interests of promoting educational excellence, personal development and work readiness.”

Mr Ker says Otago Polytechnic will take part in the next AUSSE later this year. “We see great value in being able to benchmark our performance both nationally and internationally.”

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